Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Tune for Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" is a folk song that became influential during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on the traditional song, "Gospel Plow," also known as "Hold On," "Keep Your Hand on the Plow," and various permutations thereof.

The earliest documented reference to the older song, "Gospel Plow," is in Alan Lomax's 1949 book "Our Singing Country."[1] The book references a 1937 recording by Elihu Trusty of Paintsville, Kentucky which is in the Library of Congress (Ref No .1397 A1). Lomax's references for Gospel Plow also cite two earlier works. The first is from English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians [2] published in 1917, indicating that Gospel Plow dates from at least the early twentieth century. The second reference is to a 1928 book, American Negro Folk-Songs,[3] which shows an African-American heritage for the original song.

Lyrics.

==== Eyes on the Prize ====
Paul and Silas, bound in jail
Had no money for to go their bail
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Hold on (hold on), hold on (hold on)
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Hold on (hold on), hold on (hold on)
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Paul and Silas began to shout
The Jail door open, and they walked on out
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Hold on (hold on), hold on (hold on)
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

The only chain that a man can stand
Is the chain of hand in hand
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Got my hand on the freedom plow
Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Hold on (hold on), hold on (hold on)
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Hold on (hold on), hold on (hold on)
Keep your eyes on the prize, darling

Hold on (hold on), hold on (hold on)
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Hold on (hold on), hold on (hold on)
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

==== Hand On the Plow ====
Hold on, Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

Hold on, Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

Heard the voice of Jesus say
Come unto me, I am the way.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.
When my way gets dark as night,
I know the lord will be my light,
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

Hold on, Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

You can talk about me much as you please
the more you talk, gonna stay on my knees.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

When I get to heaven, gonna sing and shout
Be nobody there to put me out.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.
I know my robe's gonna fit me well,
I tried it on at the gates of Hell.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

Hold on, Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

Lyricist(s)

The lyrics to the modern Civil Rights version of the song, "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" are often attributed to Alice Wine from Johns Island, South Carolina.[4] Mrs. Wine was a member of the Moving Star Hall and the Progressive Club on Johns Island. The book Ain't You Got the Right to the Tree of Life by Guy and Candie Carawan.[5] documents songs of the Moving Star Hall and the lives of African Americans on Johns Island in the early sixties.

It is doubtful that Mrs. Wine actually composed the lyrics herself. More likely she had heard the revised refrain and variations on the verses of the older song from the congregation at the praise hall. The leading "Paul and Silas" stanzas in the modern "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" lyrics were already present in some versions of the older "Keep Your Hand on the Plow." Our Singing Country[1] shows these lyrics were already in use in 1949 and before. Odetta used them in her 1960 Carnegie Hall appearance and recording. Mrs Wine is credited by Candie Carawan only with having passed onto Guy Carawan the revision of the title from "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" to "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize."[6]

Lyrics for traditional American folk songs and African-American spirituals are often changed, improvised and traded between songs by different artists and at different performances. This was and is especially true in the call and response of African American religious music. For example, Mahalia Jackson, in her 1958 performance of "Keep Your Hand on the Plow", begins with the couplet "Mary had three links of chain, Every link bearin' Jesus name." Bob Dylan also sings these lyrics in his upbeat version of "Gospel Plow." Carl Sandburg, in his 1927 book The American Songbag,[7] attributes these lyrics to yet another song entirely, "Mary Wore Three Links of Chain." Modern choral arrangements of this song sound entirely different from either the Eyes-Prize or Hand-Plow songs.[8] Both Sandberg in the preface to his book and folk singer Pete Seeger in the opening remarks to his Carnegie Hall performance of "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" note the malleability of American and African-American folk music. No one artist can be historically credited with "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize."

Biblical references

The title of the modern song may be a reference to the Bible verse in Phillipians 3:17 "keep your eyes on those who live as we do" and verse 14, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

The "Gospel Plow" title is also shown as a reference to Luke 9:62: "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

The "Paul and Silas" lyrics are clearly a Biblical reference to Acts 16:19-26. Here are the lyrics minus refrain:

Paul and Silas, bound in jail
Had no money for to go their bail

Paul and Silas began to shout
Doors popped open, and all walked out

Well, the only chains we can stand
Are the chains between hand and hand

And the biblical passages:
Acts 16:19-26
New International Version

… they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose

Performances and Recordings

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Keep Your Hands on the Plow

Gospel Plow

Bob Dylan Video on YouTube

Namesakes

Published versions

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Lomax, John and Alan, Our Singing Country, A Second Volume of American Ballads and Folk Songs, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1949. p 44 - 45
    http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/our-singing-country/our-singing-country%20-%200007.htm
    Roud Folk Song Index
    http://www.vwml.org.uk/search/search-roud-indexes?qtext=10075&ts=1377893044534&collectionfilter=RoudFS;RoudBS#record=1
  2. ↑ Sharp, Cecil J., and Campbell, O., English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. 2 vols. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1917. Vol. 2 p. 292
    Internet Archives - https://archive.org/details/englishfolksongs00camp
  3. ↑ White, N. L, American Negro Folk-Songs. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928. P115
    Google Books - https://books.google.com/books?id=WCuuV-kRe70C&pg=PA31&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
  4. ↑ previous unsubstantiated internet references to "lyrics by Mrs. Alice Wine":
    http://www.acousticmusicarchive.com/eyes-on-the-prize-chords-lyrics
    http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics/e/eyesontheprize.php
    http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folksongs/qt/KeepYourEyes.htm
    http://raymondfolk.wikifoundry.com/page/Gospel+Songs
  5. ↑ Guy and Candie Carawan, Ain't You Got a Right to the Tree of Life?: The People of Johns Island South Carolina-Their Faces, Their Words, and Their Songs, revised edition, University of Georgia Press (1994).
    Original edition: Simon and Schuster, 1966
  6. ↑ University of California Digitial Studio Archives.
    Also email from Candie Carawan to Johns Island Schoolhouse Museum, February 15, 2013, re. Tree of Life Exhibit:
    ‘There is one thing we would like to correct on the panel of Alice Wine at the Progressive Club. It is not accurate to say that she is credited with writing the lyrics to "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize." She is credited with passing the phrase "eyes on the prize" to Guy who then incorporated it into the song. When Guy worked with Mrs. Clark in the Citizenship program on Johns Island, he used songs in the classes. One of the songs was "Keep Your Hand on the Plow, Hold On" which he knew from the Labor Movement. Mrs. Wine took him aside and said "We know a different echo to that song --keep your eyes on the prize, hold on." Guy loved that and began to use it as he traveled around the South and met with groups at Highlander. Later on Mrs. Wine found it hard to believe that she had made such an impact on the song.
  7. ↑ Sandburg Carl, The American Songbag, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1927. x p 474
  8. ↑ The San Joaquin Chorale. December 4th, 2011 at the 1st Congregational Church of Fresno, CA. Director, Roy Klassen.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQEe4t6mUoY
  9. ↑ http://www.ovguide.com/eyes-on-the-prize-9202a8c04000641f80000000004c3d2e

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 25, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.